SAPICA (サピカ, Sapika) is a rechargeable contactless smart card ticketing system for public transport in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo City Transportation Bureau (SCTB) introduced the system from January 30, 2009. The name of the card means "Sapporo's IC card". Sa' (サッ) is also the sound symbolic word for quickly pulling a card out and pi' (ピッ) is the sound equivalent to "beep". The card is issued by Sapporo Information Network Company (札幌総合情報センター株式会社, Sapporo Sōgō Jōhō Sentā Kabushiki Gaisha), the third sector (half public) company of Sapporo City Government.
Contents
The integrated service with Kitaca, a smart card system by JR Hokkaidō, was initially considered, but they decided to introduce the different systems because of the technical and financial difficulties. However, the two operators hope to start an integration service in future. While using the same FeliCa chip as Suica and Kitaca, SCTB intentionally uses a different system code and encryption key to break compatibility to avoid JR East licensing fees.
From 2001 to 2004, Sapporo Municipal Subway experimented a different smart card called S.M.A.P. Card (S.M.A.P.カード, Sumappu Kādo).
Usable area
As of its introduction on January 30, 2009, the card is usable on Sapporo Municipal Subway Lines. The transportation bureau states the card will be usable on Sapporo Street Car and Sapporo City Bus as well in future.